When building an implant practice, many doctors immediately focus on high-level marketing, financing, and clinical care concerns. After all, patients need to know about you and be able to afford their care in order for you to thrive. Additionally, you need to be able to actually place the implants to build your reputation as a go-to implant practice.
Many practices struggle to grow, even with a focus on marketing, financing, and providing top-notch clinical care. That’s because those three focus areas will not be enough to build confidence in patients. Confidence comes from easing anxiety in patients and building trust that they’re in good hands beyond the clinical care.
We all know many patients deal with fear and anxiety towards the dentist and dental treatment, leading them to avoid dental care. With dental implants, this anxiety is even more pronounced. If you want to close more patients, you need to help ease their anxiety from the moment they learn about your practice. Here are three considerations to get started doing just that.
Be Flexible and Communicate Clearly About Their Visits
Few implant patients expect an implant procedure to be as quick as a cleaning. That said, anxious implant patients will want clarity and flexibility in both the length and number of their visits. This requires some flexibility on your part and clear team training to make sure everyone is on the same page.
Providing schedule flexibility helps to gain patients while letting them know you care. For example, you could offer to complete treatment in fewer but longer appointments. That would reduce the number of visits a patient needs to make to your practice. They’ll be much more likely to move forward with treatment that way. They will love that they can complete life-changing implant dentistry in just one or two visits.
Since the patient’s impression starts while entering your practice, your whole team should be in sync regarding letting patients know exactly how each visit will go. Let patients know you care about their comfort and have adjusted everything you can to limit discomfort while providing top-notch clinical care.
Provide Top-Notch Customer Service For Your Patients
Make sure every team member knows that you are not just in the teeth business but in the patient-care business. Dental anxiety is real and prominent and every team member needs to be evaluated not just on how they perform their tasks but how they empathize with your patients in every interaction. With this in mind, make an effort to personalize visits and provide top customer service for your patients.
Start by greeting the patient with their name and asking about their well-being. Only after the ice is broken can doctors start explaining the procedures and methodologies of the recommended treatment. Even then, use plain English and get rid of the jargon so patients can understand exactly what you recommend and why it will help them.
Understanding the procedures and feeling the sense of empathy and care from your entire team will help reduce the fear of the treatment and increase trust in the doctor and clinic.
Utilize Technology to Ease Anxiety
In addition to team training and practice flexibility, having the latest technology can also go a long way to easing patient anxiety. It shows how your practice invests in providing the best options for your patients. You show a commitment to continually improving your craft, which goes a long way to make an anxious patient feel safe.
State-of-the-art machines, equipment and material will go the extra mile and will also decrease patient anxiety. Additionally, proper training and certification will give you a competitive advantage while instilling confidence in your patients.
Here are some of our favorite dental technologies that help make patients more comfortable:
Driven Dental-Implant Marketing Will Be Your Ally
Attracting, closing, and retaining patients can be complex and time-consuming for doctors and clinics that want to maintain their customer service at a higher level. Driven Dental Implant Marketing is an agency whose focus is to help dental practices attract new patients.
To get started, book a free strategy call with us. We’d be honored to help you find the best ways to help your patients.